The Matrix: Connections
by Matrix of the Future
Summary: "How long do you think this peace will last?" "As long as it can." - The Matrix: Revolutions. Nearly sixteen years later, the peace has been broken. Full summary inside, I don't own The Matrix. Chapters 1 & 2 up!
1. Summary

**A/N: Hello there! This is my first Matrix fic, so here's some things to know. First off, this is post trilogy, ignoring all games and whatever else there may be(I just watched these for the first time yesterday). Secondly, yes, I know this is not a chapter, but the summary wouldn't fit anywhere else, and I wanted to know if people were interested in this. Oh, and, you see at the end, the _'hello, Thomas.'_ near the end, that is important. Well, I'll try to have a chapter quick as possible(it will most likely be a double chapter to balance things out), and I hope you enjoy! - Fictoria Wiress Von Braun**

The Matrix: Connections - Summary

_**"How long do you think this peace will last?"**__**"As long as it can."**_** - The Matrix: Revolutions**

The peace between man and machine has lasted a brief and blissful, yet tense, fifteen years. Neo, who has spent an extensive amount of time in the Matrix after Trinity's death, has begun to dream again, only this time, he witnesses the repeated death of a young girl, who he finds to be disturbingly familiar.

On a routine trip into the Matrix, Neo meets the girl from his dreams. There's nothing specific about this girl to make her stand out so much to him, but he feels a certain, connection to her. A connection that he can't explain, doesn't even recognize at first. She tells him something, something that she believes to be very important.

Unfortunately, Neo doesn't realize the significance of her presence or her words, until he tries to find an out, and instead finds the peace has been broken, and the machines rule once again. Will he be able to defeat his own demons, and restore the peace alone? Or will it take help from some friends, and a face he thought he'd never see again outside of his dreams?

We are all connected.

Some connections are strong and notable,

Others we have to work at.

Though not all make themselves clear right away,

It is these connections,

That secretly drive us all.

_Hello, Thomas._

_Wake up, Neo,_

_Wake up. . ._


	2. The DreamThe Plan

**A/N: Hey everyone. I finally got my internet back after it being out for two whole weeks. As promised, this is a double chapter, and I would just like to say that I'm sorry both chapters are shortish, but they are more or less just setting up the storyline at this point. Thank you _Genius-626, _Riley, and my good friend _AliceInMurderland_ for the reviews(no matter how random, Alice...) Well, enjoy! -Fic**

**Song assistance, Chapter 1-Overture-Black Veil Brides, Chapter 2-Trinity Definitely-Don Davis**

The Matrix: Connections - Chapter 1

_Hello, Thomas._

_Wake up, Neo._

_Wake up. . ._

_Hello, Thomas._ Says the unknown voice. It is that of a female. Young. The voice is not yet worn with age, but it does sound strained. Stress undoubtedly.

_Wake up, Neo._ Another voice whispers. Trinity.

_Wake up. . ._ They chorus. There is something about their tone. An urgency. What for, I don't know. I'm not sure about the owner of the younger voice, but Trinity has nothing to worry about. She hasn't for the past fifteen years.

_Wake up. . ._ It's now that the dream starts. It always starts now.

_"I have to, Thomas. You know as well as I do that I have to." The voice of the young girl says._

We're on top of a building, a skyscraper, in the Matrix. This is the dream's usual setting. I can see everything around us clear as day. The sun is setting, beautiful shades of pinks and oranges streak across the sky. Opposite the sunset, are storm clouds, hanging black and ominous above some distant set of hills. The scent of a fresh rainfall is almost as obvious as the dense fog line moving in somewhere floors below the roof of the building.

But despite all of this, I am unable to see more than the occasional glimpse of the girl. Long dark hair, and a black coat. That is all I can ever see. Never a face, never an identity.

_"It's Neo." I say, my voice hinting at a smile. "You should know that by now."_

_"I do, I do. I always have." She says. _I can't be sure, I can never see it clearly enough, but I believe the girl is softly crying, but with a smile, a goodbye.

_She turns away from me, and looks off towards the sunset._

_"You know, Thomas," she says after a minute. "After everything that has happened, I never expected for it to end like this. - And don't say it isn't ending, because we both know it is. One way or another, this is ending, tonight."_

_She turns towards me. _Although I can't see it, I can sense the smile on her face. It's one of recalling good times, and of not being afraid of what lies ahead.

_She wraps her arms tightly around my neck, as if afraid that I'll disappear._

_"Remember Thomas, Neo," she whispers. "Find your youth. Find the love. If you can do that, then we'll be okay. We'll all be okay."_

_She lets me go, then walks over to the edge. She gives a small wave my way, then after a moment of pure concentration, she jumps._

_Wake up. .._ The voices chorus once again as the dream ends, same place as always.

A beeping then begins. Subtle at first, then it becomes more persistent, more determined to drag me from the relm of the sandman and back to the world. The _real_ world. The world where all humans once lived either in Zion, or on one of it's many ships. The world where humans and machines have existed together in a tense peace, for fifteen, almost sixteen years now. The world where Trinity is dead, and I am blind.

I stick out a hand and begin tapping things on the desk, searching for the alarm. When this yields no results, I tap a little harder, almost to the point of pounding. Still nothing. Frustrated, I finally resort to shoving everything off the desk and onto the floor. The various items clatter to the ground in a chorus of metallic bangs, and the beeping stops. Finally.

I let out a sigh as I think of the next few weeks to come. In three and a half weeks, twenty-four days, Zion will celebrate the sixteenth year of peace between man and machine. Speeches will be made, gatherings held. Every citizen, male and female, young and old, home-grown and red-pill, will rejoice in one way or another. But there is something else they will be doing, too, despite all the time that has past. They will be mourning. For most, it will be a brief payment of respect and thanks, for others such as Morpheus and I, as well as anyone who truly knew Trinity, it will be more. Sixteen years. In twenty-four days, it will have been sixteen years since I lost her, couldn't save her.

My thoughts wander to one of the few places I wish they'd stay away from, the day I woke up, and discovered it _wasn't_ all just a dream.

_"Neo, just tell us what happened, tell us where she is." Morpheus says softly._

_"Trinity?" I ask, my face expression and voice monotone._

_"Yes Neo, Trinity." he says. "I'm just asking you what happened."_

_"What happened?" I ask, anger and sorrow rising with every word. "What happened is she died. She died because for some reason she loved and trusted, she believed in me. She died because I couldn't save her, and if you need proof of that then go find the Logos."_

_I lean forward, my head resting in my hands, and try to force away the pain. It had been nearly three weeks since the machines had brought me, on the brink of death, back here, to Zion. It seemed that all everyone wanted to know was what happened. What happened to Baine? What happened to your eyes? What happened at Machine City, to Agent Smith, and the most painful one, to Trinity? And I had answered them all as best as I could, all except the last one. Morpheus was the first I told._

_"I'm sorry, Neo." He says after a moment, emotional pain clear and unhidden in his voice._

_"I am, too." I whisper as I hear him begin to walk away to inform the others. "I am, too."_

Despite all the years that have past, the pain still remains, deep inside, and I believe it will always be there. The pain that I feel has never, and most likely will never, change. Something that has changed though is my ability to hide it. There are a few who can occasionally see it, but not usually. Most either believe that I have moved on, or don't care enough to see that I truly haven't. But I suppose that in some ways, I have.

I can retell the story of that night with ease. I can go about, and live a daily life without the pain interfering. Outside, I have moved on. Inside though, I'm not sure if recovering and moving on are even possible. Inside, I'm not sure if I _want_ to move on, to allow myself to love someone again when the ones you love can so easily be taken away.

_"Love is just a word. It is the connection that the word implies..."_

The words of the program out to save his daughter flash through my mind. Love is just a word. A word created to describe the strong emotional and/or physical connection we have to someone else. A connection that can be so easily broken, leaving just a ghost, a never fading memory, of what was. Funny, how something so easily broken, can be seemingly impossible to sever.

"Neo?" A voice calls, and someone taps gently on the door. "You awake yet?"

"Yes." I call back, recognizing the voice and gentle taps as belonging to Seven, a new 'personal assistance' trainee. "I'll be out in a minute."

"All right then." Comes the timid reply followed by the quick shuffling of feet as she hurries away from my door.

I sit up with a sigh and try my best to not think about the weeks to come, for they will come all too fast entirely on their own.

The Matrix: Connections - Chapter 2

"Faith! Have you gone completely mad?" Zoe whisper-shouts, a little too loud for my liking.

"Shh!" I whisper back. "Do you want the whole class to hear us?"

"No, sorry, but you can't be serious!" she says. "Do you know how much trouble we'd be in if we got caught? I guess it wouldn't be _that_ bad for the rest of us, but for _you_? It would raise so many questions, and - "

"We're not going to get caught." I interrupt. "That's why we're going to do it tonight, when most people are either asleep or at that party."

To our convenience, the majority of Zion will be attending a gathering-of-sorts this evening to give them a background on the war and the significance of the next few weeks to come. Though the history is not the main reason most go, for there would be far less attendees yearly if there wasn't a free-for-all of a party afterwards. I am still yet to figure out why everyone here enjoys partying so much.

"But why can't we just..." Zoe pauses at my glare.

"You know as well as I do that we can not continue on using the makeshift jack-in station at our meeting place." I say. "Have you even thought about how dangerous it is to be doing that with _Morpheus_ as your dad?"

At my words Zoe bites her lower lip and moves a piece of her dark hair from her face to behind her ear. Just as she's about to answer me though, a stern voice calls out, "Faithlynn Saunders!"

At the sound of my name I immediately turn forward and attempt to figure out what I am wanted to do. All I see though is my teacher sitting at her desk, presumably grading papers. After a moment she glances up, right at me.

"Well Miss Saunders?" she asks icily. "Are you going to come get your paper Faithlynn, or does someone need to bring it to you?" So that's what I'm supposed to do.

Ignoring her tone and the various snickers from around the room, I stand and walk purposefully up to her desk to retrieve my paper.

"Very well done, Faithlynn." She says quietly, handing me my paper. A 100% on my essay 'The One and His One'. "I was impressed, and expect you to begin doing this well on your other history assignments."

"Thank you, Mrs. Carson, and I'll try." I say grabbing my paper and heading back to my seat as Mrs. Carson calls up the next person.

"Zoe Crosk!" Zoe goes up and retrieves her paper, sliding her finger across her throat as she returns, showing me the grade, an 82%.

"What happened?" I ask her. "Your usual is at least an 92%."

"I don't know." she says shrugging. "It might have to do with the fact that I wrote the majority of it on my way here, but you never know. And anyways, what did _you_ get that would make an 82% look bad? History is your worst class afterall."

I'm saved from having to answer her by the ringing of a bell, signalling the beginning of our hour long lunch.

"Come on," I say rising. "We do have to tell the others about tonight's plan."

Zoe snorts but doesn't say anything as we leave the school and head for our meeting spot, an unused storage room in an old abandoned office-type building.

As we walk the familiar route to the building, I can't help but glance around Zion. What was once dull and colorless is now in full bloom, with flowers and plants growing everywhere possible. People are milling around, but the mood is not as gloomy as it was when war and survival were hanging over everyone's heads. The city limits have expanded greatly to accommodate for all the new red-pills, and people are now putting a higher price on entertainment than they were before.

When we reach the building we circle around to the back door, as there tend to be less people on that side. After locating the key in a hole in the wall, we head in and take the stairs up four floors before turning right and going down a dead end hallway three doors. The light is on and the door slightly ajar, and we know that someone beat us here.

I push open the door and am one step in when something smacks me in the face, pops, and drenches the front of my shirt and pants. A burst of laughter explodes from in front of me followed quickly by one beside me. I wipe my eyes with my hands and blink them open to see that Zoe had pushed her way past me and was standing next to Strum, both cracking up.

"Very funny." I say, throwing a piece of the busted balloon at him. "Why doesn't Zoe getta face full of water, too?"

"Because I'm not dating Zoe." He says smugly, strolling over and handing me a towel. "Are you mad?"

I take the towel without responding and instead of using it to dry off, I twist it up and give Strum a fast firm smack in the ass.

"Hey!" he shouts in protest as I prepare for another attack. "Truce, truce!"

I smirk and hang the towel around my neck, letting my clothes air dry instead. Just then the door is pushed open to reveal a giggling Ally. My best guess is that she had watched the entire thing from the crack in the door, but you never can tell with Ally.

"Oliver, Seven, come on! It's safe to enter now, the two lovebirds have made a truce!" she shouts down the hallway. A moment later Ally, Oliver, and Seven are all at the door, still laughing. Strum and I both shoot them a look, and they enter and sit down with out a word.

"So," Oliver says. "Is this just lunch, or does this meeting have a point?"

"We're jacking in tonight." I say.

"And what's so special about that?" Strum asks. "Besides the fact that it'll be Seven's first time since being freed."

"We aren't jacking in here." I say, gesturing towards our makeshift jack-in station. "We're jacking in where _they_ do. We're jacking in at the Core on The Revelation."

Everyone's eyes go wide, including Zoe's since I didn't tell her what ship we would jack in from.

"_The_ Revelation?" Strum asks shocked. "The Revelation that replaced the Nebuchadnezzar and Logos? _That_ Revelation?"

I nod.

"How are we even supposed to get _on_ the Revelation?" Seven asks, speaking for the first time. "Let alone jack in at the Core."

I smile what's more of a smirk, and begin to tell them of my somewhat sketchy, yet hopefully successful plan. If tonight's jack-in is a success, we will be that much closer to our accomplishing our goal, and I will be that much closer to my full potential, whatever that may be.


End file.
